Claude Njiké-Bergeret
Claude Njike - Bergeret, born Bergeret, ( born June 5, 1943 in Douala, Cameroon ) is a descendant of French missionaries aid worker.
Life and work
Njike - Bergeret was born in Cameroon and grew up there. With three years she moved with her parents in the near Banganté where they initiated a Christian boarding school for girls. In the narrow confines of the boarding school Mfetom Njike - Bergeret grew up under the strict supervision of their parents. She participated in the school in Mfetom and built friendships with locals. She learned the language of Chefferie ( UK ) Banganté. The Banganté be assigned to the Bamileke. Their leader, the Fon, has about 60,000 followers. 1956 moved Njike - Bergeret with her family to France, where she completed her high school diploma. After terminating his studies of philosophy and her first marriage, she started a Geography degree at the University of Aix -en- Provence. During this time she brought two children into the world ( Serge 1966, Laurent 1968). She experienced at the university with the student riots in France. Her first marriage ended in divorce in 1972. In 1974, Claude Bergeret Njike - committed to the mission society for which her father was already working to go for three years after Cameroon. There she worked as a teacher. Later, she succeeds her parents, who had also returned to Cameroon, taken the lead in the school Mfetom again. During this time, they are increasingly integrated into the social life of Banganté. She married in 1978 the Fon Njike Pokam François, although this already married with two dozen women, led a polygamous life. With him she had two more children ( Sophia 1978, Rudolf 1980). After the death Njikés she moved with her four children on a small piece of land back, which she ordered by hand until today (2007).
It has become one of local awareness and under the name of pure blanche ( White Queen ' ) is known. According to self- representation, the marriage of a qualified, Protestant employee of a missionary society is likely to be a one-time operation with a local tribal chief. He sparked national attention and caused Erklärungsnot at the Protestant Church of Cameroon.
Claude Bergeret - Njike tried to mediate between European and African values. They based their teaching more closely to the needs of the locals by Cameroonian recorded history, and African literature in the teaching program. She was already in the 1970s for an altered image of Africa in France strong. But it was only from 1997 onwards they could, with their demands for greater understanding of the peculiarities of Africans through their first published autobiographical notes, reach a wider public. 2000 was followed by her second book. Her books offer rare glimpses into the culture and customs of the tribe of Banganté.